Tutu Soft on Terror

Oh good, Archbishop Tutu wants to have his say on international security.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for the release of the remaining inmates at Guantanamo Bay and terror suspects detained without trial in the UK.

His comments follow news that all four Britons held by the US in the Cuban camp will be freed within weeks.

The South African archbishop said detentions without trial were "unacceptable" and "distressing".

Twelve foreign nationals are being held indefinitely without trial in the UK under anti-terror laws.

Referring to the detentions in Cuba, Archbishop Tutu told BBC News: "It is utterly unacceptable.

"The rule of law is in order to ensure that those who have power don't use their power arbitrarily and every person retains their human rights until you have proven conclusively that so-and-so is in fact guilty."

And the money shot?

"We in South Africa used to have a dispensation that detained people without trial and the world quite rightly condemned that as unacceptable... Now if it was unacceptable then how come it can be acceptable to Britain and the United States. It is so, so deeply distressing."

With all due respect to the distinguished Archbishop, political activists were not a threat to national security. Islamofascist terrorists are. This has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with keeping Americans, Britons, Afghans, Arabs, Spaniards, Italians, South Africans, Australians, Indonesians, and everyone else safe from terrorists who would kill them with no other reason than their beliefs. Surely, Archbishop Tutu can identify with that sentiment.